Responsibility: The trait of honorable obligation
The second key trait of productivity is responsibility. Responsibility is a moral reality, unlike agency, but it often increases agency in a person's life - sometimes tremendously.
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Agency: The “main character” trait
It's popular to describe high agency as "Main Character Energy," referring to the fact that the main character in a story is the person who does interesting things and has unusual experiences. The modern world includes so many opportunities to do interesting things, but also presents us with more tempting lifestyle scripts that keep us stagnant.
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Addicted to imperfect conditions
Some people only feel motivated when the circumstances are stacked against them. They need to see themselves as an underdog in order to put sincere, hard effort into something. It's a twisted mind game that feels necessary from the inside but looks very silly from the outside.
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Addicted to perfect conditions
I’ve been addicted to perfect conditions. Once there’s a “reason” for underperforming, a narrative explanation for it, then my body will take the opportunity to underperform.
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The two rules of personal organization
Generalists who juggle multiple projects often need to stop-and-go on them at different times. The only reason I can pull this off is because I'm careful about organizing and documenting my ideas, knowledge, and work. And good organization is easy. There are only two rules.
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Laziness death spirals
Laziness/procrastination has a kind of independent momentum to it. When you're having an off day, even if you consciously commit to getting back on track, the rut tends to find its way back to you within a couple of hours. I list three different courses of action you can take to get out of a laziness death spiral.
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Micro-retirements
Generalists sometimes need to take things "off the table" in their lives, sometimes permanently. A micro-retirement is the letting go of a single activity in your life to make room for other things. I've found that using the mindset of retirement is more acceptable, psychologically, than "forcing myself to quit" or something like that. "Quitting" implies dissatisfaction, which is why I never considered "quitting" parkour. "Retirement" implies completion, which is, at worst, bittersweet.